Son of God (Christianity): Difference between revisions

The New Testament quotes Psalm 110 extensively as applying to the sonSon of godGod. A new theological understanding of Psalm 110:1 and 110:4, distinct from that of Judaism, evolved.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShZFPAVievMC&pg=PA326|title=Psalms Volume 2 of College Press NIV Commentary|publisher=College Press|year=2004|pages=326–327|authors=S Edward Tesh, Walter Zorn|access-date=30 April 2014|isbn=9780899008882}}</ref> Jesus himself quotes Psalm 110 in Luke 20:41–44,<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|20:41-44|KJV41–44}},</ref> Matthew 22:41–45,<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|22:41-45|KJV41–45}}</ref> and Mark 12:35–37.<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|12:35-37|KJV35–37}}.</ref><ref name="Aquila">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hxMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|title=From Messiah to Preexistent Son|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|year=2009|author=Aquila H. I. Lee|access-date=30 April 2014|isbn=9781606086308}}</ref>{{rp|211}} The meanings and authenticity of these quotations are debated among modern scholars.<ref name="Aquila" />{{rp|204}} Various modern critical scholars reject that David wrote this psalm. In the [[Masoretic Text]] many Psalm including this one are explicitly attributed to David. The superscription is "of David a psalm." Some have suggested that this indicates that Psalm 110 was not written by David. The superscription as it stands is ambiguous. However, Jewish tradition ascribes Psalm 110 and indeed all Psalms to king David.<ref name="Aaron">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00ECWP4NZYYC&pg=PA53|title=Peter W. Flint, Patrick D. jr Miller, Aaron Brunell, Ryan Roberts (editors), ''The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception, Volume 99'' (Brill 2005 ISBN 978-90-0413642-7), p. 53|access-date=7 October 2014|isbn=9004136428|last1=Flint|first1=Peter W|last2=Jr Miller|first2=Patrick D|last3=Brunell|first3=Aaron| last4=Roberts|first4=Ryan| year=2005}}</ref><ref name="Walter">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShZFPAVievMC&pg=PA319|title=Psalms Volume 2 of College Press NIV Commentary|publisher=College Press|year=2004|authors=S Edward Tesh, Walter Zorn|access-date=2 May 2014|isbn=9780899008882}}</ref>{{rp|314–315}} In Christianity, David is considered to be a prophet. The New Testament records several psalms as having been spoken through David by the Holy Spirit.<ref name="Aaron" /> Acts 2:29–30<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|2:29-30|KJV29–30}}</ref> explicitly calls David a prophet.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkiXKniWwjoC&pg=PA45|title=Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginnings of a Literary Tradition|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1990|page=45|editor=James L. Kugel|access-date=3 May 2014|isbn=0801495687}}</ref> Jesus himself affirms the authorship of this psalm by David in Mark 12:36 and Matthew 22:43.<ref name="Walter" />{{rp|314–315}} In the Christian reading, David the king is presented as having a lord other than the Lord God. The second lord is the Messiah, who is greater than David, because David calls him "my lord".<ref name="Beale">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e69R5GYemBgC&pg=PA372|title=Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2007|editor1=G. K. Beale |editor2=D. A. Carson|access-date=29 April 2014|isbn=9780801026935}}</ref>{{rp|371–373}} In Hebrew, the first "Lord" in Psalm 110 is "{{transliteration|hbo|Yahweh"}} ({{lang|hbo|יהוה}}), while the second is referred to as "{{transliteration|hbo|adoni"}} ({{lang|hbo|אדני)}}, ('my ''{{transliteration|hbo|[[adon]]'}}'), a form of address that in the Old Testament is used generally for humans but also, in Judges 6:13,<ref>{{bibleref2bibleverse|Judges|6:13|ESV}},</ref> for the [[Theophany|theophanic]] [[Angel of the Lord]].<ref name="Walter" />{{rp|319}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/hebrew/113.htm|title=Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> The Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher [[Philo]], a contemporary of Jesus, identified the Angel of the Lord with [[Philo's view of God|his version of the ''logos'']] distinct from the later [[Logos (Christianity)|Christian ''logos'']].<ref>[[Frederick Copleston]], ''A History of Philosophy'', Volume 1, Continuum, 2003, p. 460.</ref><ref>J.N.D. Kelly, ''Early Christian Doctrines'', 5th ed., HarperOne, 1978, p. 11.</ref>

It is debated when exactly Christians came to understand Psalm 110 as introducing a distinction of persons in the Godhead and indicating that Jesus was more than a human or angelic messiah, but also a divine entity who was David's lord.<ref name="Aquila" />{{rp|202–205, 210–11}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=naOG_qkeZBsC|title=Christ Among the Messiahs: Christ Language in Paul and Messiah Language in Ancient Judaism|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|pages=145–146|author=Matthew V. Novenson|access-date=29 April 2014|isbn=9780199844579}}</ref> Hebrews 1:13 again quotes Psalm 110 to prove that the Son is superior to angels.<ref name="Aquila" />{{rp|272}}<ref name="Beale" />{{rp|939}} Psalm 110 would play a crucial role in the development of the early Christian understanding of the divinity of Jesus. The final reading of Psalm 110:1 incorporated a Preexistentpreexistent Son of God greater than both David and the angels. The Apostles' Creed and the [[Nicene Creed|Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed]] would all included references to Psalm 110:1.<ref name="Aquila" />{{rp|272}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cSua5-tLIgC&pg=PA132|title=Reading the Old Testament with the Ancient Church (Evangelical Ressourcement): Exploring the Formation of Early Christian Thought|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2007|pages=132–133|author=Ronald E. Heine|access-date=1 May 2014|isbn=9781441201539}}</ref>

{{bibleref2|Psalm| 2:7}} reads:

He said to me, "You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."|Psalm 2:7<ref>{{bibleverse|Psalm|2:7}}</ref>}}

Psalm 2 can be seen as referring to a particular king of Judah, but has also been understood to reference the awaited Messiah.<ref name=Cathenc>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14142b.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Son of God|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> In the New Testament, [[Adam]],<ref>{{Bibleverse|Luke|3:38}}</ref> and, most notably, [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]]<ref name=Cathenc/> References to Psalm 2 in the New Testament are less common than Psalm 110. The passages in Acts, Hebrews and Romans that refer to it give the appearance of being linked with Jesus’Jesus' resurrection and/or exaltation. Those in the Gospels associate it with Jesus' baptism and transfiguration. The majority of scholars believe that the earliest Christian use of this Psalm was in relation to his resurrection, suggesting that this was initially thought of as the moment when he became Son, a status that the early Christians later extended back to his earthly life, to the beginning of that earthly life and, later still, to his pre-existence, a view that Aquila Hyung Il Lee questions.<ref name="Aquila" />{{rp|250–251}}

The terms "''sons of God"'' and "''son of God"'' appear frequently in Jewish literature, and leaders of the people, kings and princes were called "sons of God".<ref name="Cathenc" /> What Jesus did with the language of divine sonship was first of all to apply it individually (to himself) and to fill it with a meaning that lifted "Son of God" beyond the level of his being merely a human being made like [[Adam]] in the image of God, his being perfectly sensitive to the [[Holy Spirit]] ([[s:Bible (American Standard)/Luke#4|Luke 4:1, 14, 18]]), his bringing God's peace ([[s:Bible (American Standard)/Luke#2|Luke 2:14]]; [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Luke#10|Luke 10:5–6]]) albeit in his own way (Matthew 10:34,<ref>{{bibleref2bibleverse|MattMatthew|10:34|esv}},</ref> Luke 12:51),<ref>{{bibleref2bibleverse|Luke|12:51|esv}}),</ref> or even his being God's designated [[Messiah]].<ref name="GOC">For this subsection and the themes treated hereinafter, compare [[Gerald O'Collins]], ''[[Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus]]''. [[Oxford]]:[[Oxford University Press]] (2009), pp. 130–140; cf. also [[James Dunn (theologian)|J. D. G. Dunn]], ''The Theology of Paul the Apostle'', [[Edinburgh]]: T&T Clark (1998), pp. 224ff.; ''id.'', ''Christology in the Making'', London: SCM Press (1989), ''passim''; G.D. Fee, ''Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study'', Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 508–557; A.C. Thiselton, ''The First Epistle to the Corinthians'', Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eedermans (2000), pp. 631–638.</ref>

In the New Testament, the title "Son of God" is applied to Jesus on many occasions.<ref name="Cathenc" /> It is often used to refer to his [[divinity]], from the beginning of the New Testament narrative when in Luke 1:32–35<ref>{{bibleref2bibleverse|Luke|1:32–35}}</ref> the angel [[Gabriel]] announces: "the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God."<ref name="Cathenc" />

The declaration that Jesus is the Son of God is echoed by many sources in the New Testament.<ref>"'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied: 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah'". ([[s:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#16:15|Matthew 16:15–17]]) in: ''Who do you say that I am? Essays on Christology'' by [[Jack Dean Kingsbury]], Mark Allan Powell, David R. Bauer 1999 {{ISBN|0-664-25752-6}} page xvi</ref> On two separate occasions the declarations are by [[God the Father]], when during the [[Baptism of Jesus]] and then during the [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]] as a voice from Heaven. On several occasions the [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] call Jesus the Son of God and even the Jews scornfully remind Jesus during his crucifixion of his claim to be the "Son of God."<ref name="Cathenc" />